The largest and busiest children’s Primary Care Center between New York and Boston, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) has 2,200 employees and a medical staff of nearly 1,100 across two hospitals, five specialty care centers, and 10 practices.

Single Diagnostic Environment Delivers Big Impact

Delivering premium care to little patients is the big priority at CCMC. The center’s radiology services are provided by Jefferson Radiology, the largest radiology private practice group in Connecticut. Jefferson Radiology depends on InteleOne from Intelerad Medical Systems, a distributed, enterprise solution for streamlining medical imaging workflows.

With InteleOne, Jefferson’s radiologists are more productive, providing interpretations with increased accuracy in less time. “InteleOne allows an improved workflow, and more importantly, it allows for greater access to relevant prior clinical information so that we can provide the best care,” said Jefferson Radiology’s Stephen Poole, M.D., who serves as head of pediatric imaging for CCMC.

InteleOne Improves Care, Streamlines Workflow

The decision to deploy InteleOne at CCMC’s hospitals and other patient facilities was motivated by two goals. “Our primary goal was to improve patient care,” Poole said. “A secondary goal was to improve our workflow.”

Those goals have been easily achieved. “I can be sitting in Hartford, reading a study from someone in Westfield, who has a comparison study from Holyoke,” explained Poole. “In one location I am able to review all that information, instantly.” Before InteleOne, this would not have been possible.

Comprehensive Access to Priors Increases Quality, Reduces Cost

Easy access to prior studies is a key benefit of using InteleOne. “Before InteleOne, searching for prior exams was a cumbersome and time-consuming process,” said Poole. “Now, all of the exams associated with a patient are automatically retrieved and displayed in InteleOne.”

With effortless, comprehensive access to prior exams, radiologists can deliver a more accurate and thorough interpretation, in a more timely manner. Furthermore, unnecessary studies are eliminated, saving significant time and money.

Subspecialist Routing Facilitates Better Accuracy

With advanced workflow features, InteleOne makes it easy to route cases to the most qualified subspecialist on Jefferson Radiology’s staff. Thus, studies that need subspecial interpretation are completed just as quickly as any other, thanks to InteleOne.

“We don’t have to wait until a neuroradiologist is in the hospital tomorrow,” said Poole. “There are always three neuro-radiologists available, today.”

Universal Diagnostic Platform Delivers High Value to All Stakeholders

With InteleOne’s common viewer and universal worklist, radiologists can identify cases relevant to them, access all necessary patient data, collaborate with colleagues and generate reports — all with more efficiency and better accuracy. “InteleOne enables you to read more studies,” said Poole. “My productivity has increased significantly.”

InteleOne delivers high value to all the stakeholders in a patient’s care. “The value is in better and more accurate interpretations, the value is in more satisfied referring clinicians, the value is in being able to optimize a schedule that is more convenient and productive for the radiologists,” Poole said.

Instant Messaging Features Enable Easy Collaboration, Better Care

In patient care, life-saving decisions can depend on timely responses. However, radiologists often work in locations deep within a hospital and/or next to a MRI machine, where cellphone use may be impossible or unreliable.

The instant messaging features of InteleOne remove these obstacles, streamlining communication and creating collaboration opportunities. By removing the need to locate colleagues and identify means to contact them, InteleOne enables instant consultation, leading to the highest quality interpretations. “We can always get connection through InteleOne and it is very easy to collaborate,” said Poole.

Strong Relationship with Intelerad Inspires Confidence

Poole, Jefferson Radiology and CCMC administrators are extremely happy with the decision to deploy InteleOne. A strong business relationship with Intelerad and an appreciation of the company’s business practices contribute to very high levels of satisfaction with the solution and company.

“The availability of Intelerad is key,” said Poole. “The ability to make suggestions and work collaboratively with a vendor is very important to us. Intelerad personnel are fantastically accommodating, always available and highly communicative.”